Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, December 14, 2007—Living up to its name, Nevada's oldest state park provided a clear vantage point to watch last week's Geminid meteor shower.

Here, a long exposure behind one of the peaks of the park's Seven Sisters rock formation reveals a Geminid shooting star (traveling left to right) against a backdrop of star trails.

Experts had hoped that a moonless night would make the Geminid display one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year, but clouds and low numbers of meteors dampened the show in many places.

The Geminids, named so because they appear to originate from the star Castor in the constellation Gemini, appear each December. They are believed to be remnants from a dead comet known as 3200 Phaeton.